Patna: Opposition legislators on Friday staged a noisy protest against the Bihar government`s failure to pay salaries to 2.5 lakh primary school teachers for months.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Lok Janshakti Party, the Congress and the Communist Party of India (CPI) members demonstrated outside the Bihar Assembly complex and demanded immediate release of their dues to the primary teachers.

They shouted slogans against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for spending crores of rupees in the name of Bihar Divas celebrations, but not paying the salaries to school teachers.

"It is the real face of Nitish Kumar`s model of development. Lakhs of primary school teachers have not received salaries for months on but the state government celebrated Bihar Divas for its image building," Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly Abdul Bari Siddiqui told a news agency.

Basudev Singh, leader of the Primary School Teachers` Association, said: "These teachers celebrated Holi without money. But the Bihar government is busy propagating that the state is changing and developed. One can imagine the teachers` frustration."

Bihar Human Resource Development Minister PK Sahi admitted that due to work for the three-day Bihar Divas celebration, school teachers were not paid their salaries.

However, primary school teachers in the state say they have not received their salaries for six to 10 months. Some teachers have not received it from almost three years.